Hearts boss Wouter Vrancken has offered a lengthy explanation for his side's 7-1 collapse to Celtic on Sunday.
The Hoops blasted the Edinburgh side and were 5-1 up by half-time after a brilliant start. Callum Osmand and Benjamin Nygren each netted braces, while Camilo Durán and Kieran Tierney were also on target, and there was also a Hearts own goal forced by Mika Baur.
While few expected Hearts to be as good as last season, given their change of manager and the loss of some key players, even fewer will have expected them to concede seven at Parkhead, and especially after they battered St Mirren last weekend, scoring five in the process.
It was a damaging defeat for the Jambos, and asked to offer an explanation at full-time, Hears boss Vrancken offered a lengthy one.
“I've already had a few tough ones," he began, as reported by The Scotsman. "This is sport, but this is not the most pleasant side of it,” Vrancken said. “It's a disappointing result, of course, and a disappointing performance in some ways. It's a pity that it happened now because we were on a good run.
“The game is pretty easy to analyse, actually. I think we started well in possession during the first few minutes, but when you concede a set-piece goal in, I think, the seventh minute, and then you're 2-0 down by around the 15th minute, it's difficult.
"The mindset and confidence within the group changed, maybe, because what you saw afterwards was us trying to play football. Sometimes it worked, but when I look back at the goals, I think they all came from individual mistakes. We were losing the ball too easily and making mistakes like that. Then it's difficult to win a game overall, especially a top-level game, of course.
“The result is the most disappointing thing, and the players who made individual mistakes know it, of course. The important thing for me now, after what happened, is that we recognise that it has happened and move on.
“After the game, the most important thing for me is to get into their heads and make sure they don't lose confidence in what they're doing. I'd rather have players who are willing to take responsibility and make mistakes, perhaps, while still showing confidence, instead of hiding themselves because that doesn't bring anything to the team.
“Of course, you want to minimise the mistakes, but when they happen, hopefully there are only one or two across the whole game. When you look back at the goals, it was all individual errors.
“We know they're really strong in transition moments, and we focused on that before the game as well. They're the best team when it comes to shots on goal following a transition. When you lose the ball too easily like that, you give them those transition moments and leave yourself exposed, which makes it easy for them.
“The most important thing now is to cope with the result, the disappointment and perhaps the anger you feel within yourself. From the day after tomorrow, we have to focus on Thursday again. This is sport. This is football. I've known this for a long time. It's one emotion after another. It's the same as we discussed after a good game: you cannot carry that emotion into the next match either.
“You also have to show them that, sometimes, games like St Mirren, for example, when everybody is saying such positive things, are not always as good as they seem. It's the same in the other direction. You have to analyse what happened and explain it to the players.”
Both Hearts and Celtic now turn their attention back to European football and the Conference League and Europa League respectively.
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